World's first Bitcoin ATM goes live in Vancouver

VANCOUVER -- Bernd Petak recalls a time when, curious about how exchanging cash for the digital currency Bitcoin worked, he stood at Union Square in New York City and wandered among the sellers to try and get the most bang out of his buck. "You meet at a certain time outside and there are people standing around with their hand up, and they'll sell you Bitcoin, and you can shop with various people and you can see who has the best price," he said. Such transactions involve buyer and seller scanning each others' smartphones to transfer the Bitcoins -- a virtual currency that isn't controlled by a central bank -- to the buyer's so-called digital wallet. On Tuesday, however, the world saw the first Bitcoin automatic teller machine go live in a downtown Vancouver coffee shop, allowing people to exchange Canadian cash for the digital currency at a current rate of $211.79 per Bitc...